Questions remain over the future of American University’s School of Education. Earlier this week the dean sent an email to students saying the School of education may be cut due to a $60 million budget deficit.
“It’s something that we all really care about,” said Patrick Hayes, a graduate student in the School of Education. “It’s a central part of our lives.”
Students like Hayes and Josh Calderon have been left unsure about what’s next after receiving the jarring email from the dean this week saying the school of education may be on the chopping block.
“We’re part of a teacher prep program called City Teaching Alliance that partners with American University, and if some of these changes were to happen, our organization may not be able to partner with the School of Education,” Hayes said.
“I moved all the way out from California for this, so it was a really large leap of faith,” said Calderon, who is also a graduate student.
Screenshots of the emails made waves on social media.
In the message, the dean warned students that the School of Education will undergo a massive restructuring in January and could be cut due to the budget deficit.
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“I was pretty shocked because, you know, I studied four years here, and I have no idea what I’m going to graduate with right now,” said senior Nathaniel Smith.
Despite follow up messages reassuring students they will still graduate and the School of Education won't shut down, many, like Smith, are still uneasy.
“What does it look like on my resume when I put School of Ed and there’s no School of Ed?” Smith said.
In a statement to News4, a rep for the university said, “There is no discussion about cutting the School of Education (SOE). Discussions about restructuring SOE’s administrative framework are ongoing and have been for some time as part of our regular evaluation of our academic offerings."
“Nowhere in there did they say that it wasn’t going to be absorbed by another school,” Hayes said. “Until they say that they will not merge the School of Education with another school, until they say that they will for sure keep it its own individual school, until they say that, I will not rest easy.”
The students News4 spoke with say they hope to get more answers later this week.
The dean of the School of Education has a virtual session scheduled for Friday.
